A male terminal fitting of a prior type is shown in FIG. 9. Such a male terminal fitting is formed by bending metal sheet of copper alloy or the like, and comprises, in a unified manner, a barrel member 1 for attachment of an electric wire (not shown), a contact protrusion 2 for insertion into a female terminal fitting (not shown), and an angular tubular member 3 located between the barrel member 1 and the contact protrusion 2. The angular tubular member 3 is formed by bending the sheet metal into a box shape and making both ends meet, and the contact protrusion 2 is formed by bending it into a cross-sectionally U-shaped groove. Since such a male terminal fitting is formed of sheet metal, it has the advantage of low production cost.
However, in a male terminal fitting with the above configuration, since the interior of the contact protrusion 2 is an empty groove, a strong external force may bend it about its root. In order to strengthen the contact protrusion, it has been proposed to include metal pins extending into the groove. However, in order to fix these pins a crimping or soldering step is required, resulting in an increase in cost.
The present invention has been developed after taking the above problem into consideration, and aims to present a male terminal fitting which permits low-cost production by allowing the male terminal fitting to be produced by bending sheet-metal, at the same time providing strengthening of the male terminal fitting.